Windshield Mounting

[whake]

Re: Windshield Mounting

I took the month of July off went up north. Have the new windshield trimmed and fitted, had to make some new fairings in the wing area and around the boot cowl. I intend to seal around the boot cowl and the side channels with a good grade of silicone,any sugestions about the use of silicone?

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Windshield Mounting

DO NOT USE SILICON! It shrinks, it has ammonia in it and it will collect dirt after awhile. Don't ask me how I know. For boat restoration I use what they use for sealing wood basements or the pros use to put in department store front windows. It comes in clear or colors too. I am sure the name changes from region to region but it is a polyurethane. They also use it on aquariums. Around here it is called Lexol and comes in tube type cartridges. You will need MEK or something for clean up, also remember it has tremendous strength once cured. I honestly do not how it will effect Plexiglas but on wood or fiberglass it is a miracle worker. It does not shrink, extremely strong, and is not susceptible to tearing like silicone will.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Windshield Mounting

Just as a summary from this thread, it looks like the original pre-war planes used Pyralin, which is a form of Cellulose Acetate (VERY FLAMABLE!!!). The door and "D" windows were .070 thick. The 4 piece windshield is reported to be from .080 to .145 thick and it isn't clear if all the parts are the same thickness. We REALLY need someone who has access to the drawings, or an original (even broken) windshield to measure the thickness of the front, side wrap and top pieces so we can determine what we should be using. By the way, in the Navy, the standard terms were 1) the front piece of "glass" was a "windshield", 2) the sides in front were called "windscreens". We had a canopy aft of the "bow" so I never heard a name for the "top piece" just aft of the windshield on a Taylorcraft.
I don't know about the rest of you, but the thought of the front windshield blowing in during a dive sends shivers up my spine! The modern Plexy and Poly C materials are a lot stronger than the old Pyralin, so we should be safe going back with the same as original thickness in the new material.
Who knows FOR SURE what those thicknesses were?
Hank